Apparatus for closing the toe portion of circular knit hosiery



June 17, 1969 u. M. BRIDGEMAN. 3,450,075

APPARATUS FOR CLOSING THE TOE PORTION OF CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY Filed July 7, 19s? zNvENToR': ULE$ M. BRHSQE'MAN avwfleff, Jig 3, ,1 yi l ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,450,075 APPARATUS FOR CLOSING THE TOE PORTION OF CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY Ules M. Bridgeman, Martinsburg, W. Va., assignor to Martinsburg Mills, Inc., Martinsburg, W. Va., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 7, 1967, Ser. No. 651,920 Int. Cl. Db 7/00, 27/00, 35/00 U.S. Cl. 112-27 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an aligning and guiding means used in an overedge sewing machine for closing the toe portion of circular knit hosiery and more particularly a guide and aligning means specifically adapted for use with circular knit hosiery having increased thickness looper portion.

Heretofore and for many years, the toe portions of circular knit hosiery have been usually closed by a looping operation which involved manually impaling individual loops of the hosiery upon points of a looping machine. This looping operation is necessarily costly and time-consuming, and requires the use of highly-skilled operators.

Because of the high cost involved and the degree of skill necessary by an operator, attempts have been made to close the toe portion of circular knit hosiery by overedge sewing machines. However, because of the non-uniformity obtained in manually aligning and guiding the superimposed edges of the toe portion of the circular knit hosiery into and through and overedge sewing machine, these overedge sewing operations for closing the toe portions of circular knit hosiery have not proved entirely satisfactory and have resulted in inferior quality goods.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a guiding and aligning means for use with an overedge sewing machine to allow an operator to easily align and guide the toe portion of circular knit hosiery into and through the overedge sewing machine for closing the toe portion of such circular knit hosiery. The use of this guiding and aligning means in an overedge sewing machine will provide continuity in the toe closures and acceptable toe closures for the hosiery and, therefore, eliminate the necessity for the expensive and time-consuming looping operation heretofore necessary for acceptable toe closures in the circular knit hosiery.

By this invention, it has been found that the object may be accomplished by providing a guiding and aligning means in an overedge sewing machine which is adapted for use with circular knit hosiery having an increased thickness looper portion and which comprises a pair of elongate, spaced apart, superimposed lower and upper arms carried by the sewing machine and extending in the longitudinal direction of feed of the sewing machine and terminating in close proximity to the needle plate and the presser foot of the sewing machine. The upper and lower arms are spaced apart a sufficient distance to allow passage therebetween of superimposed edges of the toe portion and to prevent passage therethrough of the increased thickness looper portion. The lower arm has the upper surface thereof in the same horizontal plane with the needle plate. This guiding and aligning means allows insertion of the superimposed edges of the toe portion of circular knit hosiery between the arms and easy alignment thereof by pulling the increased thickness looper portion against the sides of the arms and easy guiding of the aligned edges through the arms into the sewing machine in proper alignment for cutting off of the looper portion and closing the toe portion of the circular knit hosiery by overedge stitching.

Some of the objects and advantages of this invention having been stated, other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an overedge sewing machine utilizing the aligning and guiding means of this invention and illustrating a plurality of circular knit hosiery in aligning and guiding means;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating portions of the overedge sewing machine of FIGURE 1 with the aligning and guiding means of this invention attached thereto;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of the aligning and guiding means taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a partial elevational view of a portion of the aligning and guiding means taken at the arrow 4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a partial perspective view of the enclosed toe portion of circular knit hosiery having an increased thickness looper portion thereon;

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional View of the aligning and guiding means of this invention illustrating a piece of circular knit hosiery inserted therein; and

FIGURE 7 is a partial perspective view of a portion of circular knit hosiery after the looper portion has been removed therefrom and the toe portion closed by the overedge sewing machine of FIGURE 1.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIG- URES l and 2 an overedge sewing machine, generally indicated by the reference numeral 10. This machine may comprise any of the conventional Singer, Merrow or other overedge sewing machines and includes a sewing needle 11, feed dogs 12, presser foot 13, a needle plate 14, a bed plate 15, a cutting means 16, and other conventional apparatus, which all cooperate to receive, guide, feed, cut and overedge stitch a product being fed therethrough in a well-known manner. The operation of the overedge sewing machine 10 and the above-described apparatus are all wellknown to those with ordinary skill in the art and further detailed discussion herein is not deemed necessary.

The guiding and aligning means of this invention is generally referred to in the drawings by the reference numeral 20 and comprises a pair of elongate, spaced apart, superimposed upper and lower arms 21 and 22, respectively. The lower arm 22 is attached to the bed plate 15 of the sewing machine 10 in any suitable manner so that the upper surface thereof is in the same horizontal plane with the needle plate 14 and so that the trailing ends of the upper and lower arms 21 and 22 terminate in close proximity to the presser foot 13 and the needle plate 14 for providing proper guiding and alignment of the toe portion of circular knit hosiery as it it presented to the sewing machine 10.

The upper arm 21 is attached to the lower arm 22 by a pair of identical C-shaped brackets 24. The arms 21 and 22 are attached to the open ends of the respective leg portions of the C-shaped brackets 24 by any suitable rivet or screw means, as shown in FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 6. The C-shaped brackets are vertically adjustable for varying the predetermined distance between the upper and lower arms 21 and 22 for purposes to be hereinafter described.

For providing this adjustment feature, the C-shaped brackets 24 each comprise an upper and lower portion 30 and 31 which is held together by a plate 32. The plate 32 is attached to the lower portion 31 by a screw 33 extending through an aperture in the plate 32 and into a threaded aperture in the lower portion 31. The plate 32 is attached to the upper portion 30 by a screw 34 extending through an enlongated slot 35 in the plate 32 and into a threaded aperture in the upper portion 30. The C-shaped brackets 24 further include a threaded member 36 extending from the top of the upper portion 30 through a threaded aperture therein and into a threaded aperture in the lower portion 31, as shown in FIGURE 3, such that upon rotation of the threaded member 36, the upper and lower portions 30 and 31 of the C-shaped brackets 24 will move or adjust themselves closer together or farther apart, as desired. During this adjustment through the threaded member 36, the screw 34 will be loosened such that the screw may slide along the elongated slot 35 in the plate 33 and is then again tightened to lock the upper and lower portions 30 and 31 in the adjusted position.

In operation, a piece of circular knit hosiery, generally indicated in the drawings by the reference numeral 40 and which includes an increased thickness looper portion 41, may be easily inserted between the upper and lower arms 21 and 22 of the aligning and guiding means 20. For ease of insertion, the upper and lower arms 21 and 22 include diverging leading ends, indicated at 21 and 22', so that the superimposed edges of the toe portion may be easily inserted between the arms 21 and 22.

The arms 21 and 22 are adjustably spaced apart a predetermined distance such that the superimposed ends of the toe portion may easily pass between, but so t at the increased thickness looper portion 41 may not pass therebetween. When the superimposed edges of the toe portion are inserted between the arms 21 and 22, they may be easily aligned by pulling the increased thickness looper portion against the sides of said arms which prevents passage therethrough of the increased thickness looper portion 41, as illustrated in FIGURE 6. The hosiery 40 may then be easily guided by the operator along the aligning and guiding means 20 and into the overedge sewing machine in proper position and alignment for removal of the increased thickness looper portion 41 by the cutter means 16 and overedge sewing of the edges of the toe portion for closing same, as indicated at 42 in FIGURE 7.

Preferably, the arms 21 and 22 of the guiding and aligning means are of suflicient length to accommodate a plurality of hosiery 40, as indicated in FIGURE 1, for the most efficient operation of the equipment.

Therefore, it may be seen that by the use of the aligning and guiding means of this invention in an overedge sewing machine, circular knit hosiery with increased thickness looper portions thereon may be easily and quickly aligned and guided through the overedge sewing machine for closing of the toe portion thereof to provide continuity in the closures and to eliminate the necessity for the time-consuming and highly-skilled looping operations heretofore necessary in producing quality hosiery.

What is claimed is:

1. In an overedge sewing machine adapted for use in closing the toe portion of circular knit hosiery and av ng a sewing needle, a needle plate, feed means, a presser foot, and a looper cutting means disposed in advance of said sewing needle, all of which cooperate to receive, guide, feed, remove the looper portion and overedge stitch the toe portion of the circular knit hosiery; the improvement of guiding and aligning means adapted for use with circular knit hosiery having an increased thickness looper portion, said guiding and aligning means comprising a pair of elongate, spaced apart, superimposed, upper and lower arms extending in the longitudinal direction of feed of said sewing machine and terminating in close proximity to said needle plate and said presser foot, said lower arm being mounted on said sewing machine with the upper surface thereof in the same horizontal plane with said needle plate so that the superimposed edges of the toe portion of the circular knit hosiery may be easily guided into said sewing machine, and means adjustably mounting said upper arm in predetermined spaced apart relation to said lower arm sufii cient to allow passage therebetween of the superimposed edges of the toe portion and to prevent passage therebetween of the increased thickness looper portion and for varying the spacing between said upper and lower arms to accommodate varying thickness hosiery, whereby the superimposed edges of the toe portion of the hosiery may be inserted between the arms and easily aligned by pulling the increased thickness looper portion against the sides of the arms and then the aligned edges may be easily guided between said arms to said sewing machine in proper alignment for cutting off of the looper portion and closing the toe portion of the circular knit hosiery.

2. In an overedge sewing machine; the combination, as set forth in claim 1, in which said upper and lower arms are of sufficient length to accommodate a plurality of hose therebetween.

3. In an overedge sewing machine; the combination, as set forth in claim 1, in which the leading end of said upper and lower arms are diverging for easy insertion of the toe portion of the circular knit hosiery therebetween.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,669,952 2/1954 Getaz 11227 3,009,430 11/1961 Lutz et a1. ll2l62 3,340,834 9/1967 Rosso et a1. 112-25 H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 112-136 

